Elizabeth had struggled with her weight for so long that she wondered if it was even possible to be happy in her own skin. Determined to be a positive role model for her daughter she had tried other diets and fitness programs, but didn’t find her perfect fit until she stumbled on a Venus ad. Within weeks her clothes were looser and she was on her way.

IN HER WORDS

“I am 38 years old and I never thought I could ever be slim. I have struggled with my weight all my life. One of my childhood memories is of a boy saying that I looked like I was pregnant. In the last 2 years my weight seemed to balloon up and I could no longer fit into 90% of my clothes. I was very discouraged but also not hopeful since I had tried SO many diets and fitness programs. Some of these helped somewhat, but they were so restrictive they did not fit into my lifestyle. Others were very structured but even though I put in so much effort, I did not see any significant results. I had my thyroid issues corrected, but my weight problem still did not change, as I expected it would. My 6 year old daughter made the comment that, “Mommy is a little bit chubby”. That really upset me, because I want to be a positive role model for her. I wanted to overcome this issue in my life so that hopefully she will not struggle with negative body image and weight issues. But I did not know how to lose the weight unless I starved myself. It was only a few weeks later that I came across a Venus Factor advertisement online. I felt like it was an answer to prayer! I immediately started to lose weight with Venus in April 2014. In less than a week my clothes started to feel looser. I found many tools for losing weight that I can use according my needs and my social calendar. This is what I love most about Venus: it is 100% flexible. I live in Asia, where the constant social events are all about food, and to not eat is culturally offensive. In the past I did not know how to navigate this. Now I participate in eating with everyone and I am still losing weight. The concept of budgeting my calories makes a lot of sense to me. I budget my money – why wouldn’t I count and budget my calories as well? When I started the VT12 Contest, I had a pair of size 12 grey jeans that were way too tight for me. I could not even do up the button. Now, just 12 weeks later, those jeans are too big for me and I need to replace them with a smaller size. I am so happy. For the first time in YEARS I feel comfortable and confident in my own skin. I am so, so thankful for the Venus program and what it has done for me.”

Today John and Brad will talk about the main philosophy of the Venus Factor Workout being to remain physically active most of your life. It is to be able to weight train all your life without injury if possible. On your menu of goals should be “Am I able to do this injury free? Or at least with minimal injury?”

Some people are genetically more durable, more athletic, and have a special kind of connection between mind and body. Most of us are not gifted the way pro athletes are. The key to being able to stay physically active long term is to 1) not get injured, and 2) learn to manage injuries properly.

Be careful not to let your goals get hijacked by younger or genetically gifted trainers. Your age and your “training age” come into play for what is right for you. Just because a young or gifted trainer knows something well and is (or was) good at something does not mean it’s good for you. You have to consider whether or not it’s right for you given your age,”training age”, and genetic abilities.

John will tell you about what to do to work around an injury and how to avoid over use injuries. A big part of the Venus Factor design is to avoid over use injuries by constantly changing up the routines. John said that working out and making progress for even one year injury free is a pretty big win. This makes me feel pretty good because I’m 52 and have done Venus Workouts for almost 3 years now injury free. I’ve never had to stop due to injury even though I workout nearly every day. I’d say that says a lot for the design of the Venus program.

Regardless of what is coming for the rest of 2013 you can be sure it’s all been done before

Fitness Trends 2013

Everything that’s old is new again, and this is always true in diet and fitness. Every trend you’ve seen in the past 10 years has already come to a rise and fallen decades earlier.

The low carb fad that hit in the 1990’s is at least the 3rd time low carb came into vogue. The low fat push in the 1950’s and 60’s had it’s first push 60 years before that.

Even fasting has been promoted as a healthy way to eat and stave off disease and sickness as far back as the late 1800’s.

Believe it or not protein was even regarded as an evil nutrient that should be eaten in very limited quantities. And conversely you can find information promoting very high protein diets in the 1800’s as well.

When it comes to strength training we’ve seen the recent popularity of self proclaimed ‘functional’ training such as cross fit. Traditional bodybuilding has faded and might be due for a resurgence.

Regardless of what is coming for the rest of 2013 you can be sure it’s all be done before.

The term “building muscle” is the most common term we hear when referring to an increase in muscle size. This however is not the most accurate way of imagining how a muscle actually increases it’s size. A better way to think of it is inflating and deflating a balloon, and increasing the ‘rubber’ of the balloon.

From there it gets a little more complex with the incorporation of muscle specific stem cells called “satellite cells”.

In todays podcast we review the claims of an interesting self experiment done by Nate Green who gained 20lbs of lean mass in only 28 days. We determine that it’s more correct to say that he actually ‘re-inflated’ the same 20lbs of muscle mass he used to have…and that it’s perfectly normal to expect to do this for anyone who has previously been 20lbs larger.

Fact is that once you’ve built the muscle you can always get it back even after years of taking time off. And it comes back FAST!

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The amount of activity these people did make all of us in 2013 look lazy by comparison no matter how much you think you exercise.

Diet and Fitness; a Moment In Time

The current view of what is necessary or acceptable from a diet and exercise standpoint is largely dependent on your surroundings and the era you’re living in.

Modern western industrialized societies can be described as ‘obesogenic’ as there is an abundance of cheap high calorie density food combined with a highly sedentary workforce. On a daily basis it would be easy to consume triple the amount of calories you burn, and many people do.

But has it always been this way?

How much more activity did people really do before the industrial revolution and could we really eat 4000-5000 calories every day without gaining weight? Is it possible to eat that much food and still be healthy?

We review a research paper that examine what life was like in the Victorian era in England. The amount of activity these people did make all of us in 2013 look lazy by comparison no matter how much you think you exercise.

They also ate significantly more calories than we do now, and didn’t gain weight. They were what we would call healthy and didn’t have the modern lifestyle diseases that we see today such as heart disease and diabetes.

This research from the Victorian era sheds some light on just how little exercise we really do, and how much more we’re really capable of. It also shows how your society and surroundings play a big part in how active and ‘fit’ you will likely become.

Today’s topic: The Hierarchy of Diet and Fitness needs; Redefining the Fitness Pyramid

Don’t stress about what you can’t control. Change what you can.

John and Brad discuss how to look at your health and fitness needs. Nutrition, supplements, ability to lose fat, ability to gain muscle, and ability to train are all interrelated. It all works together. Small things effect other things and then can escalate to hinder your goals.

Your own pyramid is unique. Your own inhibitors can be anywhere on your pyramid. Certain things are foundational:

Keeping stress under control

Awake and sleep cycles

Fat loss, if needed

Effort in the gym

Ability to sleep

Amount to eat (not too much, not too little)

Injury

Ability to recover from workouts

Finding a good time to workout

People with sleep and stress out of control typically have trouble sticking with a diet and fitness program.

Each person is unique. Sometimes supplements or nutrition can address specific inhibitors.

The main thing is don’t worry or stress about things you have no control over. Change the things you can. Small things effect other things and then can escalate into bigger problems that hinder your goals.

Today you will get a chance to hear John’s interview with Professor Mark Haub. Professor Haub works at the Kansas State University in the department of Human Nutrition.

The Twinkie Diet experiment

One of the things I enjoyed the most about listening to Professor Haub was his honesty and the fact that he is not endorsing or selling a diet or food product. He simply had a bit of weight to lose and decided to try this experiment. He specializes in better understanding dietary fiber and whole grains relative to diabetes and obesity. He teaches a class on energy balance and obesity.

Since refined grains are listed by the USDA as potentially unhealthy and obesogenic Dr. Haub decided to use this opportunity to experiment with his own need to lose a few pounds. He said it did not turn out the way he expected. He learned a few things about himself during this experiment and after losing the excess pounds he decided to make some long term diet changes.

Professor Haub was surprised by the results of his experiment with snack foods. His health parameters improved.

He measured his health parameters and used a DXA scan to measure his body composition. He lost 27 pounds of fat and 6 pounds of lean body mass which are both typical for this amount of weight loss on a just about any diet. His health parameters improved.

Calories really do matter

Professor Haub limited himself to less than 1,800 calories a day. A man of his size usually consumes about 2,600 calories a day. He followed a basic principle of weight loss: He consumed significantly fewer calories than he burned.

This confirms what most of us here at the Venus Index already knew along with the principles of John’s Anything Goes Diet.

You have your own unique dietary needs

Most of us experimented to find our own way to lose weight. We found that the right amount of calories was key, along with not depriving ourselves of foods we love.

So if you have weight to lose the key is to find the right amount of calories and do whatever it takes to keep yourself sane and feeling okay short term. Then spend the rest of your life figuring out what type of diet is good for you. All of us have unique likes, dislikes, and health needs. Pay attention to your calorie needs, what nutrients you need, what your health practitioner advises, and not letting food control you.

What is maintenance?

The real answer is that you’re never actually just sitting in one spot at the exact same weight, and body fat %. You’re always fluctuating a little bit throughout the day, and throughout the year.

Maintenance is more of a transient state that you can dip in and out of when you you’re not necessarily trying to gain more muscle or burn more fat.

You can ‘hold’ and maintain a certain level of body fat and muscle for a given length of time and then get ready to push it hard again.

The step-wise progression

In all the body transformations I’ve ever seen it’s always a step-wise pattern. This means you will improve for a given amount of time. Then you’ll need to take a break. Once you feel ready you can push forward again. The amount you move forward is dependent on your goals and how hard you expect to push things.

Thinking about maintenance is also about managing expectations and where you expect to go based on the energy you’re putting forward.

Moments of maintenance happen for many reasons including lifestyle factors, seasonal changes, periodic moments of being sick, generalized stress.

For example over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season you may simply set a goal to just make it from November to January without gaining fat mass.

In this case you’re actually working to just maintain, and you’d probably have to consider it a win just to make through the holidays without gaining fat.

Maintenance is a mode you go into throughout the year, and it’s normal to go through phases of muscle growth vs muscle maintenance and fat loss vs maintenance.

In this podcast we discuss what maintenance is, how to define what it is and how often you should expect to be in maintenance mode.